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Turkey and Pakistan launch joint navy drill

Turkey and Pakistan launched a joint navy exercise at Karachi, the Pakistani daily The News reported on Sunday.

"This series of bilateral exercise has been regularly conducted between Pakistan and Turkey on annual basis. This being the 12th exercise in Ayyildiz series, continued for 12 days," the daily said.

Turkey and Pakistan have signed nearly 60 defence cooperation agreements in recent years and their military consultation group, created in 2003, has been upgraded to a high-level cooperation council.

Turkey has become Pakistan’s second-biggest arms supplier, after China, and their improved ties are the result of several broader developments.

For instance, Turkey was the only country that backed Pakistan in its effort to join the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group and when it was put on the ‘grey list’ last year by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an intergovernmental organization founded on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.